HiddenClan: Inferno Heart
by LexxiRose
Summary: Darkness is setting ablaze at the heart of HiddenClan. Strong emotions like hate and love are brewing in all cats. What will come of all this fire? Who will get burned? And who will make it through the flames alive?
1. Allegiances

**ALLEGIANCES:**

**_HIDDENCLAN_**

**Leader: Shadestar- **small, sleek black tom with yellow eyes and long tail

**Deputy: Cinderbreeze- **muddy-gray and white tabby she-cat with lighter muddy-gray flecks, a fierce face, and jade green eyes

**Med. Cat: Fawnspots- **calico she-cat with light orange and dark brown flecks, small ears, delicate paws, soft fur, and brown eyes

**_Warriors: (toms and she-cats without kits)_**

**Aspenleaf- **white and tan tom with light green eyes  
Apprentice, Grassypaw

**Shredclaw- **brown tabby she-cat with a white chest and paws, and hazel eyes

**Redblaze- **ginger tabby tom with a white chest, white paws, blue eyes, and long, coarse fur  
Apprentice, Flowerpaw

**Graycrest- **gray-and-white tabby tom with white paws, a white chest, and gray eyes

**Frostfang- **white tom with green eyes

**Onenight- **black tom with one icy blue and one yellow eye  
Apprentice, Pebblepaw

**Crowwing- **black she-cat with long legs and startling blue eyes  
Apprentice, Pinepaw

**Darkmoon- **black-and-white tom with peculiar tousled fur and amber eyes

**Foxfeather- **ginger tabby she-cat with amber eyes  
Apprentice, Meadowpaw

**Lilypool- **cream tabby she-cat with blue eyes

**Ravenpelt- **dark tabby she-cat with blue eyes

**Apprentices: (more than six moons old and training to become a warrior)**

**Grassypaw- **gray tom with green eyes

**Pebblepaw- **gray, white, and cream tabby tom with green eyes

**Meadowpaw- **white-and-cream she-cat with hazel eyes

**Flowerpaw- **tan tabby she-cat with amber eyes

**Pinepaw- **dark brown tom with green eyes and long, lanky legs

**Queens: (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)**

**Blueblossom- **blue-gray she-cat with a white chest and blue eyes  
(expecting Graycrest's kits)

**Twilightshadow- **small, long-furred black she-cat with lighter flecks and gray eyes  
(nursing Frostfang's kits)

**Kits: (less than six moons old, still living in the nursery)**

**Nightkit- **black she-cat with yellow eyes

**Adderkit- **dark gray tom with a sleek tail and gray eyes

**Scorchkit- **tortoiseshell tom with a dark face and yellow eyes

**Purekit- **white tom with a light pink nose and red eyes

**Elders: (former warriors and queens, now retired)**

**Copperstrike- **dark brown tabby tom with gorgeous gold eyes

**Silverlight- **gray-and-white she-cat with blue eyes

**CATS OUTSIDE THE CLAN**

**Rogues: (do not live with the clan, may or may not cause trouble)**

**Thunderblaze- **golden tom with a cream chest and blazing amber eyes

**Sting- **large gray she-cat with white paws

**Fever- **tiny black she-cat with a white face

**Daffodil- **pretty cream she-cat with amber eyes

**Bane- **muscular brown tom with amber eyes

**Sway- **yellow tom

**Loners: (do not belong to any specific group, do not cause trouble for the clan)**

**Ruddy- **rusty-brown tabby tom

**Ace- **black-and-white she-cat

**Dennis- **light brown tabby tom

**Iris- **gray she-cat

**Kittypets: (live comfortable lives with twoleg caretakers in twolegplace)**

**Georgie- **brown-and-white tabby she-cat

**_THINGS TO NOTE ABOUT HIDDENCLAN:_**

Camp is located deep in the forest, however, a twoleg housing plan is near, and there are many rogues and loners who journey out from twolegplace. Hiddenclan cats tend to stay away from the twoleg created monstrosity.

Since there are no other known Clans, there are no moonly meetings of the cats. The medicine cat still visits the Moonmeadow (a clearing in the forest where the medicine cat and leader can sleep with StarClan) every half-moon.

There are monthly Clan gatherings within the Clan where every Clan member goes around and expresses an accomplishment. This was mandated to exclaim the prosperity and good standing of HiddenClan.


	2. Prologue

PROLOGUE

A quiet, superficial peace gathered deep in the forest. In a sparseness in the trees, a gathering of cats lay calmly, stretching out, sitting, and lying throughout the clearing. The birds chirped quietly in the trees. Small rodents scurried about the forest floor. The sun illuminated on the cats, adding brightness to their day. Little did they know, darkness lay in the very walls of their camp, consuming the very cats that abided there. A battle was coming, one that would take many lives.

A white, orange, and dark brown speckled she-cat paced anxiously in her den.

"Is this an omen?" she whispered to herself, staring at a carcass sprawled out in the middle of her den. Flies and maggots spewed out of the rodent's body. She was disgusted, and afraid, and she felt like she was going mad. As a medicine cat, she had experienced omens before, but nothing to this extent. She couldn't believe it. Death was coming to her Clan. She ran out of the den, leaving behind the carcass, and ran straight for the huge log in which her leader resided. She flew right in, panting.

"Fawnspots, what is wrong?" Shadestar spoke, unable to be seen through the shadows. His voice was apathetic, and he seemed to have been taking a nap.

"There's been… an… omen… in my den," she panted between words. Shadestar opened his eyes and the yellow beams pierced through the darkness.

"Show me," he hissed, then stood. Fawnspots cringed at his leader's harshness, then withdrew herself from the den. She ran to her den and around the rotting mouse carcass, and allowed for her leader to see what she believed to be an omen of mass destruction.

Shadestar stared at the carcass before he looked back up at Fawnspots.

"This isn't an omen, you flea-brain!" he spat.

"But, Shadestar, it has-" Fawnspots began before her leader's yowling washed out her quiet, frail voice.

"Mouse-dung! You call yourself a medicine cat! This is obviously an action of an annoying little apprentice trying to cause trouble. I don't want any more of this nonsense!" He exited the den, and Fawnspots stared at the carcass, her heart shattering itself.

"It has to be," she cried into the vacant medicine den. "It has to be."

She sat there silent for a while, her body feeling heavy with sadness, shock, and disappointment. Then, she stood and with one claw, picked up the dead mouse and took it outside of camp. She dug a hole and put the mouse inside. She covered it up with the dirt and began to walk back to camp.

An uneasiness settled in her stomach when she was only a few paw steps away. She turned around. The carcass had resurfaced from the dirt.

Uneasy, and scared for her life, Fawnspots sprinted back to camp, and straight into her den. She crawled into her nest and buried her face into the moss. The smell from the carcass lingered in her den. She dug her claws into the dirt and purred lowly into the moss, trying to calm herself down. After what seemed like an eternity of her delusions, Fawnspots stood and turned to the medicine wall where all her herbs were stored in holes in the dirt. She clawed out a juniper berry and choked it down.

"To calm me down," she assured herself in the habit she did when healing any other cat. She'd always explain why she was giving the herbs she felt necessary. She stuck her nose into the chamomile hole and breathed in.

"To soothe my mind." She then nuzzled out a whole dandelion and ate it.

"To numb the pain," her voice was cracking and desolate in the wide open den. She then picked out some leaves from another hole.

"Thyme… to calm me down… calm me down." She swallowed the herbs. She then lined her nest with lavender, and swallowed some poppy seeds.

She curled into a ball in her nest, her tail tickling her nose. "Poppy.. for sleep.." she mumbled as she drifted off into a drugged slumber, her nose full of lavender. Her mind full of nothing, and blank, blocking out haunting memories.

Shadestar was back in his den, awake, standing in the darkness his eyes staring forward into nothing, in obvious denial of everything and anything. His sleek black tail flicked back and forth.


	3. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Twilightshadow purred warmly. All four of her jubilant kits were healthy and well on their way to becoming apprentices. She couldn't have been any happier. She loved her kits more than anything.

A gray tom-kit with a white splotch on his face sat sharing tongues with another tom-kit. The other was pure white with striking red eyes.

A black she-kit with yellow eyes pounced onto her tortoiseshell brother. He yowled playfully, swayed his long tail around for momentum, and rolled her over onto her back, pinning her down with one large kit-paw.

"That'll show you!" he hissed. The she-kit swung at his muzzle with claws unsheathed. She nearly clawed him.

"That's enough," Twilightshadow spoke sternly. The tom-kit stepped off of his sister, and she stood up, sheathing her claws.

"Look at me," their mother ordered. The two kits turned to her. "You know my rule. No playing dirty. Now you must be punished."

"No fair! I kept my claws sheathed!" whined the tom-kit.

"Enough. Scorchkit. I don't want to hear another word. Nightkit, you and your brother will go to the elder's den and you will deliver them fresh-kill if they so ask. If they don't need any, go to Fawnspots."

The two kits didn't really seem to take the punishment as something bad. They were excited to get out of the nursery. And they loved talking to the elders. They always had such funny stories. Nightkit and Scorchkit scurried out of the nursery before Twilightshadow had a chance to change her mind.

Twilightshadow sighed. And to think she thought that things were going well. She really needed to keep a handle on her kits before they ended up hurting one another. But she had two at the moment who were acting peaceful. She had to reward them.

"Adderkit, Purekit, come here," she spoke softly. The two toms paced over to their mother and laid down in her soft, warm belly fur.

Across the nursery was another she-cat. She was older and fairly pregnant, with a beautiful blue-gray coat. Her eyes stared scornfully at Purekit. Twilightshadow hissed at her, before she wrapped her tail around her obedient kits.

Nightkit and Scorchkit were already at the elder's den, causing trouble. Copperstrike had asked for a thrush, and they thought it'd be funny if they brought him back a sparrow. It was even funnier for the kits when he didn't even notice. Silverlight was fast asleep, and the kits didn't want to bother her. However, Copperstrike had some funny stories to share with them about their mother.

"She was a wild a thing, for sure," he started. Nightkit's eyes stared up at him in complete interest. "She was always causing trouble, just like you two. Never really could get her to settle down, and don't know if we ever will. Once when she was an apprentice, she climbed a huge oak and her mentor had to fetch me to get her down." He shuffled his fur comfortably. "She's calmed down now I guess, for you four. So don't take advantage of your mother. She really loves you."

Copperstrike had a way of always twisting his stories into some type of lesson for his kin. He purred and gave each kit an affectionate lick on the top of the head.

Scorchkit whined. "Don't mess up my fur!" Then both the kits scampered away. Copperstrike stared as they left, very much amused.

The two scampered across camp to the fresh-kill pile and Nightkit pulled out a plump juicy mouse. When she had trouble carrying it, Scorchkit grabbed the other half of it in his mouth and the two began to carry it into the medicine den. They got through the entrance and Fawnspots was in the den, mumbling to herself.

Nightkit dropped the mouse. "Fawnspots! We brought fresh-kill for our favorite medicine cat!"

Fawnspots turned around appreciatively, but lost it at the sight of the mouse.

"Get that away! Now! I'm not hungry. Bees in my brain! Bees in my brain!" She crouched low to the ground, her head buried in the dirt, screaming at the kits.

The kits, taken aback, began to pull the mouse back out of the den and to the fresh-kill pile. They dropped it as soon as they got there, panting.

"She really does have bees in her brain!" joked Scorchkit.

"That's not funny!" Nightkit hissed. "She's our medicine cat she still deserves our respect, mouse-brain!"

"Sorry," Scorchkit muttered. They sat in silence staring at the mouse. "Well, if she doesn't want it, I don't see why we can't have it?"

"I like that idea," mewed Nightkit and the two started to devour the mouse. Once they were full, they realized that there was still half a mouse left. Not wanting to get in trouble for wasting, they dragged it to Copperstrike, and he gladly took the extra addition to his meal.

They scampered back out to the fresh-kill pile.

"We still should bring something to Fawnspots. Maybe she just doesn't like the way mouse tastes?" Nightkit inquired.

"How can she not? It tastes _so _good," remarked Scorchkit.

"Do you think she'll like a rabbit?" Nightkit asked.

"I don't see why not," Scorchkit replied.

Then, the two began dragging the even heavier fresh-kill to the medicine den. They dragged it in and called to Fawnspots.

Fawnspots was in the corner of her den, silent. She turned around, her eyes watering and the den smelt heavily of lavender.

"Ah, thank you kitties." She paced over to the rabbit and took a bite. "Sorry about earlier. Mouse just isn't my preference. How did you know I prefer rabbit?" There was slow, dreary feeling to her voice that caught the kits off guard. What ever happened to the warm, kind medicine cat that they knew before? Drool dropped from Fawnspot's mouth.

"Well, I think I'm going to finish this off later. Thanks for stopping by!" Fawnspots turned around and went back to the corner, staring solemnly at the wall.

Scorchkit and Nightkit backed slowly out of the den before sprinting back to the nursery and crawling straight into their mother's warm belly fur. Twilightshadow didn't say a word. She was content. A large warm body was curled around her, concealing her just as she was concealing her kits. She purred.

"Thanks for visiting, Frostfang," she turned her head to speak to him.

"Why wouldn't I?" he purred into her ear.

"I love you," She spoke sweetly as she rested her head on her paws, her eyes closed sleepily.

"I love you too," he said as he rested his chin on her neck, closing his eyes as well. Oh, the spitting image of the loving family.

Blueblossom stared from the other side of the nursery and she could feel kits crawling in her belly. Jealousy steamed from her ears. Where was her mate? She detested being alone. She rested her head on the cold ground and closed her eyes, falling into an unhappy slumber.


	4. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

The wind ruffled Ravenpelt's fur. She was many fox-lengths into the air, her claws digging into the trunk of an oak tree. She loved the feeling of being in the sky. She knew how birds felt. It was as if no one could bother them if they were this close to touching the clouds.

Foxfeather was down on the ground, pacing and looking for scent trails. Ravenpelt opened her mouth to search for any nearby birds she could ambush. She sensed a thrush in the tree next to her. She used her keen eyes to pinpoint its exact location and she jumped.

Three of her feet landed firmly on the tree and she dug her claws deep into the bark. The other foot was used to stick a claw into the thrush before it managed to fly away. Ravenpelt finished off the attack with the killing bite.

Wish the thrush in her mouth she descended from the tree and hopped excitedly onto the ground, ready to show off her catch to Foxfeather.

Foxfeather was nowhere to be found. Ravenpelt had been so consumed with her thrush that she had neglected to watch where her friend was going. She dropped the thrush and followed Foxfeather's scent trail.

She found her next to a bush, sniffing around suspiciously. She didn't know that Ravenpelt was there until Ravenpelt gently nudged her with a soft paw on the shoulder.

"Oh, Ravenpelt, you followed me," she said unreadably. Ravenpelt shook with embarrassment.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to be a bother."

"No, it wasn't a bother. I just didn't expect you to, that's all. Most cats just leave me alone. Sometimes I swear I'd be better off as a loner."

Ravenpelt looked at Foxfeather lightheartedly as she continued to ramble.

"Speaking of loners, smell this bush. There's an off scent on it. I'm right in saying this is not one of our clan mates?"

Ravenpelt didn't like to talk about rogues or loners. Mostly because she had formerly been one, in her kit days. That is before her mother abandoned her and left her for dead in leafbare. Shredclaw found her and nursed her back to health just as she was weaning off Foxkit and Lilykit.

Ravenpelt smelt the bush and looked up at Foxfeather curiously.

"Yeah there is something different on this bush. Maybe we should tell Shadestar about it."

"Mouse-dung. Don't know what that'll accomplish. Shadestar refuses to take action on anything. This'll be something that me and you will have to investigate on our own, how about that?"

Ravenpelt's heart raced. She would get to spend more time with Foxfeather. She couldn't dream of anything better.

"Of course," Ravenpelt spoke quietly.

"Great!" Foxfeather purred. "I can't wait." Ravenpelt noted the twinkle in her eye when she said this, and couldn't discern if it was for the thought of adventure, or the thought of her. Ravenpelt swallowed nervously and began to head back to where she dropped off her thrush. She picked it back up in her mouth and headed back to camp to drop it off in the freshkill pile, Foxfeather trailing close behind.

Redblaze sat in the middle of camp next to a rock, grooming himself. He met eyes with Shredclaw as she padded over to sit next to him. Their pelts didn't touch, but the two sat at a comfortable enough distance that it appeared that they wanted to be close by each other.

Redblaze leaned his head over to groom his chest fur. Shredclaw flicked her tail lightly over his back. The two were mates, but something appeared to be up. What it was, well, no one was really sure.

Pebblepaw dashed into the wood, his gray, white, a cream tabby pelt blurring through the trees, and his mentor trailing cautiously behind him. His ears were alert, searching for the slightest noise of prey. He heard the fluttering of a bird a couple trees over and he halted, abruptly.

He flicked his ears in the direction of the bird as his mentor skidded to a halt. Onenight nodded and Pebblepaw stalked forward. He had yet to spot or sense the bird, but his hearing had always been his most keen ability.

Onenight was scenting eagerly, hoping his apprentice was really on the trail of something good. His heart dropped as he spotted the large bird in the tree ahead, its vicious eyes locked on his tiny apprentice. All he could hear was the thumping of his heart.

Pebblepaw was still looking for the bird, unaware of the impending danger. The jet black tom had had stopped in his tracks, staring blankly at the eagle straight ahead. Running would be pointless, the bird could catch Pebblepaw no matter how fast his ran. Onenight was too far away from his apprentice to cover him. Onenight watched helplessly as the bird jumped from the branch and flew straight for Pebblepaw.

Adrenaline kicked in and Onenight sprinted for his apprentice. He was too late. Pebblepaw turned his head, startled and eyes opened wide only to see a pair of talons heading for his back. The bird clasped hard on the small apprentice's spine, claws digging into his flesh. Onenight leaped at the bird, but fell just short of its tail as it began to fly away. He leaped again, higher this time, and slashed at the bird's wing.

Onenight sprinted forward and up the closest tree. He knew he needed to act fast because the eagle was going to get away with his apprentice and he wouldn't stand for that. The bird was injured, but still moving quickly into the distance. Onenight jumped from the branches of the tree and onto the eagle's back, causing the bird to tighten its grip on Pebblepaw. Pebblepaw screamed in pain. Onenight raked his claws into the bird and it screeched into the distance.

The eagle finally let go of Pebblepaw when Onenight bit harshly into its neck. Pebblepaw plummeted to the forest floor. The bird thrashed at Onenight's bite and the angry squirming threw Onenight off balance, and he lost his grip on the eagle, falling quickly to the forest floor, hitting a tree trunk hard on the way down. The eagle flew away, screeching angrily.

Onenight rolled over on the ground. His head ached incredibly and he had a sharp pain in his hind leg. He shook his fur and stood up, shifting all weight onto his three good legs. He began to hop toward the not moving body of his apprentice, sprawled quietly out on the forest floor. He reached the apprentice with a heavy, apprehensive heart.

He stared down at Pebblepaw looking for signs of life. The apprentice's front leg was bent at an unnatural angle, and there was blood spattered everywhere. A little drop of blood escaped the apprentice's mouth. Onenight's mind was eased when he saw the little apprentice's stomach rise and fall. Onenight quickly nuzzled himself under the apprentice's stomach, and threw the inert body over his shoulder and began carrying the apprentice carefully back to camp. He ignored the pain in his leg and desperately traveled to the safety of camp.

He reached the entrance and squeezed through.

"Fawnspots!" he called coughing brutally after uttering the words. The she-cat quickly exited her den and her eyes, red and watery, widened at the sight of the apprentice and his mentor.

Onenight then collapsed under the weight of the apprentice and his lack of strength. Fawnspots ran over to the pair, and others began to withdraw from their dens curious about the scene.

Fawnspots stared, wondering what to do. She began to pant heavily and her eyes looked around nervously. She could feel the eyes of the Clan beating down on her, pressuring her to do the right thing. She needed to save both toms, or she was going to be responsible for another death, and she couldn't live with that.

"Help!" she screamed urgently. "I need to get them into my den!" With that she ran into her den and started looting through her medicine stash, leaves flying and spiraling and crashing throughout the den. She scratched them into another larger leave, grabbed a stick, and almost the entire collection of cobwebs. Then, Frostfang and Shredclaw were carrying Onenight into the den, and Aspenleaf was following behind with Pebblepaw slung over his shoulder. Aspenleaf gently dropped Pebblepaw onto the nest and Frostfang and Shredclaw set Onenight down.

Fawnspots began spastically working.

"Cobwebs for bleeding." She stuck the cobwebs all over the little apprentice, and noted that Onenight didn't seem to be bleeding anywhere, but was just simply exhausted.

"Comfrey, to prevent infection." She applied the comfrey poultice to the wound.

"Stick, to set the leg." She set the stick next to Pebblepaw's mangled foreleg, and positioned it so the leg then fell even and parallel with the stick. She used more cobwebs to wrap the stick firmly against the apprentice's leg. She began to make a poultice of the many healing and pain concealing herbs she had.

She pawed the poultice close to the apprentice for when he awoke. Then she paid attention to the heavily panting, pained warrior.

She placed one paw on the bottom of his hind leg and her mouth at the top. Onenight grimaced. Suddenly, with one movement, she pushed down with her paw and over with her mouth, trying to put the leg back into place. Onenight yowled in pain. She tried again. Onenight yowled then looked up at her confused.

"Are you still biting my leg?" he asked. Fawnspots took her teeth off the leg.

"I was." Then, she pawed at the leg.

"I don't feel that. I don't feel any of what you're doing," Onenight cried. Fawnspots sunk back into herself. She had managed to further the injury. The leg was gone and could never be brought back. She had damaged it at its core and it was now rendered useless.

"I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do…" her voice was frail and broken. She had failed him.

"You must be able to do something! Something else! Anything!" he yelled at the medicine cat. He was thrashing with anger. Fawnspots quickly made a poultice of thyme, dandelion, and poppy seeds and presented it to Onenight.

"It will bring back the feeling," she lied, and Onenight selfishly licked up every last bit of the poultice. He was soon asleep, and motionless.

She peered over at the apprentice who had yet to awake. He was breathing shallowly. She sighed. She was probably going to lose him too. She went to the medicine stash, choked down a few silver vine leaves, and prepared for the meeting she would have to have with Shadestar. _Is this what the omen could've been about?_ She wondered.


End file.
